Category: Small farms

UC Davis is partnering in a global plant-breeding consortium fighting malnutrition and poverty in Africa by improving the continent’s traditional crops. The African Orphan Crop Consortium — conceived by Howard Shapiro, a senior fellow at UC Davis and the chief agricultural officer at Mars Inc. — is making great strides in its ambitious attempt to…

By Julia Ann Easley, July 18, 2016 As the summer sun warmed her, student Hanna Morris stood up and surveyed row upon row of vegetables ripe for harvest near the UC Davis Student Farm. The spring plant sciences course on plant growth and care had ended, and this two-acre lab had been largely abandoned by…

Small growers can build their own farm-scale coolers at a fraction of the cost of conventional units, thanks to the invention of a device that adjusts air conditioners into dropping the temperature all the way down to refrigeration levels. A window or split-unit air conditioner available at most hardware or department stores can be used…

UC Davis is partnering in a global plant-breeding consortium that is fighting malnutrition and poverty in Africa by improving the traditional crops of the continent. By Diane Nelson, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, February 24, 2016 UC Davis is partnering in a global plant-breeding consortium that is fighting malnutrition and poverty…

A new effort to provide California growers with seeds for tomato, bean, pepper and other crop varieties that are specially bred for organic farming has been launched at UC Davis. The organic plant-breeding project was developed in direct response to California organic growers, who have reported that the scarcity of seeds for cultivars that meet…

The launch of a $17 million collaborative project linking UC Davis and Pakistan’s leading agricultural university was celebrated today at UC Davis, which will receive $10 million of the funds. The new U.S.–Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, will make it possible for…

UC Davis gets into the dirt for World Food Day, on Friday (Oct. 16). First, there’s a talk and panel discussion on “Healthy Soils for a Healthy Life.” The next program will be in the soil, or, rather, in a new garden where the Horticulture Innovation Lab is demonstrating the technologies that it is cultivating…

[A new outdoor center, part of the Horticulture Innovation Lab at UC Davis, demonstrates tools used to help smallholder farmers in developing countries. There are African and Asian vegetables in raised beds, a solar-powered coldroom, a brick cooler, some solar dryers, and more.] Outdoor Center Displays Tools, Equipment, and Crops for Smallholder Farmers in Developing…